Popolo Batak - Antico Pustaha - 1857

Ancient Pustaha (also called Pustaka), a magical-ritual book and divination booktypical of the Batak people, an ethnic group from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia (specifically the region around Lake Toba).
The pages (Laklak): They are not made of ordinary paper, but are made from the inner bark of the alim tree.
The binding: The two ends of the bark are glued or fixed to two rigid wooden covers (lampak), often decorated or carved (sometimes with figures of geckos or lizards, symbols of the earth deity).
The text is written in Batak characters, a syllabic alphabet of Indian origin (derived from the ancient Brahmi script). The language used in these books is hata poda, an archaic and ritual language accessible only to priests.
These books were the personal notebooks and cookbooks (recipes) of the Datu (the priest-shaman, healer and magician of the community).
The four creatures carved in the quadrants are geckos or lizards, one of the most important mythological figures for the Batak, linked to the earth deity: Boraspati ni Tano.
The medallion inserted in the center of the cover is a copper colonial coin of 1 Cent from the Dutch East Indies (Nederlandsch Indië), dated precisely 1857.